IS CHITOSAN POSSIBLE TO BE UTILIZED AS A PROTECTIVE MATERIAL OF PROTEIN AGAINST THE DEGRADATION IN THE RUMEN?

1997 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 08660331
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Zootechnical science/Grassland science
• Research Institution: TOTTORI UNIVERSITY
• Principal Investigator: SEKINE Junjiro TOTTORI UNIVERSITY,VETERINARY SCIENCE,PROFESSOR, 農学部, 教授 (40001466)
• Project Period (FY): 1996 – 1997
• Keywords: CHITOSAN / DEGRADATION KINETICS IN THE RUMEN / MOBILE BAG / ABOMASUM / INTESTINE / COLON AND RECTUM / IN SITU INCUBATION

Research Abstract

THE PRESENT STUDY WAS TO CONFIRM WHETHER CHITOSAN WAS DEGRADED IN THE RUMEN OF CATTLE GIVEN 3 KINDS OF HAY AND TO DETERMINE DEGRADATION IN THE POST-RUMINAL DIGESTIVE TRACT OF CATTLE.
THREE HOLSTEIN STEERS (MEAN LIVE WEIGHT OF 603 (]SY.+-。[) 75 KG AT THE START) WERE FITTED WITH RUMINAL CANNULA OF SILICON AND PLASTIC CANNULA AT THE DUODENUM AND AT THE PROXIMAL END OF ILEUM (EXPERIMENT 1). THEY WERE GIVEN ALFALFA HAY,BERMUDAGRASS HAY OR OATS HAY WITH FREE ACCESS IN A LATIN SQUARE DESIGN.DIGESTION AND PASSAGE RATE OF DIGESTA WERE DETERMINED USING CHROMIUM MORDANTED FIBER.AT THE SAME TIME,CHITOSAN WAS INCUBATED IN THE RUMNE BY IN SITU PROCEDURE.DEGRADATION OF CHITOSAN IN THE POST RUMINAL TRACT WAS DETERMINED BY THE SAME ANIMALS AS EXP.1 USING MOBILE BAG TECHNIQUE (EXPERIMENT 2).
RESULTS OBTAINED WERE AS FOLLOWS :
1) DIGESTIBILITIES OF DRY-MATTER,CRUDE PROTEIN AND ACID DETERGENT FIBER WERE GREATER FOR ALFALFA AND OATS HAYS THAN BERMUDAGRASS HAY.THE RATE OF RUMINAL OR POST-RUMINAL PASSAGE SHOWED NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE AMONG HAYS.THE TRANSIT TIME WAS NEITHER SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT AMONG 3 KINDS OF HAY.
2) CHITOSAN INCUBATED IN THE RUMEN OF STEERS GIVEN 3 KINDS OF HAY INCREASED ITS QUANTITY BY 2 TO 10 % OF ITS INITIAL WEIGHT.NONE OF SAMPLES,HOWEVER,SHOWED A DECREASE IN ITS QUANTITY.CHITOSAN INCUBATED IN THE RUMEN DID NOT SHOW A CLEAR CHANGE IN ITS SIZE AND SHAPE OF PARTICLES.
3) FROM THESE RESULTS,IT IS CONCLUDED THAT CHITOSAN WAS NOT DEGRADED IN THE RUME OF CATTLE AS FOUND IN SHEEP.
4) WHEN CHITOSAN WAS INCUBATED IN THE PEPSIN-HCL SOLUTION BEFORE THE RUMINAL INCUBATION,MEN DISAPPEARANCE OF CHITOSAN WAS 14.9 (]SY.+-。[) 3.3 %. AFTER RUMINAL INCUBATION,HOWEVER,MEAN PERCENTAGES OF CHITOSAN RECOVERED IN THE RUMEN WERE 101.3 TO 102.2 %, IN THE ABOMASUM,99.4 TO 103.3 %, IN THE INTESTINE,98.8 TO 96.5 AND IN THE COLON AND RECTUM,103.1 TO 99.3 %, RESPECTIVELY.CHITOSAN INCUBATED IN THE POST RUMINAL TRACT DID NOT SHOW CLEAR CHANGE IN ITS SIZE AND SHAPE AS IN THE EXP.1.
5) THESE RESULTS INDICATE THAT CHITOSAN MAY NOT BE DEGRADED OR WAS DEGRADED A LITTLE IN THE POST-ABOMASAL TRACT OF STEERS,IF ANY.THE PRESENT STUDY DID NOT DEMONSTRATE A CLEAR EVIDENCE FOR DEGRADATION OF CHITOSAN IN THE POST-RUMINAL TRACT OF STEERS.FUTHER STUDY NEEDS TO CLARIFY THE EVIDENCE.